


Standing On Air

by MRI



Category: bungou stray dogs
Genre: Childhood Friends, Fluff, M/M, Mentions of Suicide, childhood AU, time skip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-18
Updated: 2018-11-18
Packaged: 2019-08-25 12:39:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16661305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MRI/pseuds/MRI
Summary: One day on a breezy afternoon, Chuuya Nakahara visits a cliff after school to admire the setting sun over the ocean. There, he finds a young boy like himself wrapped in bandages, waiting to plummet off the edge.(The one where soukoku are kids and Chuuya stops Dazai from committing suicide.)





	Standing On Air

**Author's Note:**

> I was doing homework one afternoon while listening to the radio when this song called, “Suicide Blades” by Mura Masa started to play. Needless to say, it’s what inspired me and gave me the idea to write this short fic.
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

He'd never seen anything like it.

The sight was horrific, but to him it was a fantastical view that could have been directly plucked out of a painting; An illustration that resembled the light drawings printed in the storybooks he read. 

    Chuuya Nakahara was convinced that the boy before him was balancing on wind, there on the edge of a cliff. 

   He was jealous, because the boy was not afraid of falling, and perhaps that jealousy was the single reason why he called out to him amongst the sound of crashing waves.

"Hey," 

He sung in a calm tone, nothing like the screams the boy had grown accustomed to over the small amount of years he'd been forced to endure. 

When he'd heard the innocent voice speak for the first time, a sense of distraught brought him back to the world without wind, but with a different type of disturbance than usual. He was interrupted politely, that day.

"You shouldn't do that."

He never broke away from staring at the line where sky met sea. Things so meaningful never blurred together, and he wanted to ponder at the idea till his last breath. The books underneath his bed always spoke of the beauty of sunset, how everything came together in that one moment. He'd die only being able to distinguish the division of the horizon, wondering why he never understood when understanding was his most polished quality.

"Why shouldn't I?" He asked, never minding the strain in his arms from being stretched to the sides, ready to take off at any minute.

"Because humans don't fly. You'll fall into the sea and drown, because humans don't have gills, either." The boy answered. "You'll die."

"Everyone dies," He answered nonchalantly, the wind brushing his hair back and exposing the red tainted bandages over his eye. He was truly brave, or perhaps lacked any sense of fear. The boy was too young at the time to understand, unfortunately, but he understood that pirates almost always ended up detesting the vast sea they sailed on. "So why does it matter if I die now?"

The boy thought to himself, standing in silence as he questioned his own reasoning. It was true that everyone that he knew and loved would one day cease to exist, and such a fate was inevitable. They would one day find themselves never have woken up and lacking a beating heart, so why did it matter if that day were to come sooner? It was bound to happen someday, eventually.

But despite the natural truth, the red head boy couldn't see himself ending it all just yet. Today, he was supposed to play mahjong with Rimbaud once at the book shop before he got home. Tomorrow, he would be having hamburger steak for dinner. Next week, he was planning to finish his books and return them to the library so he could immediately check out new ones...

There were so many things he wanted and had to do; It would be a shame if he could never go through with them.

"You'll miss out on many things if you die," The boy replied earnestly. "You won't be able to read all the books on the library shelves. You won't be able to grow up and spend your own money on cool clothes and games. You won't see the next eclipse and meteor shower, or wish on a shooting star. You won't be able to eat tangerines under the kotatsu during the winter. You won't be able to celebrate the new year or see the beautiful shrines during the summer festival. You won't be able to buy crepes on school field trips. You won't see the next action movie at the theater. You won't be able to collect seashells on the beach, or fall asleep to the radio. You won't be able to travel the world or learn how to drive. You won't win the biggest prize at the claw machine. You won't be able to dream about flying above the flowers. You'll be dead, and laying in a coffin is boring."

     The boy inspected the other's face as he slowly turned from the pink horizon, edging away from the cliff. He discovered that the boy who'd interrupted him was about his age, with a head full of red curly locks that framed his small face, with bright blue eyes to compliment the look. His expression was casual yet sincere, and he could see the hint of captivation that lingered on his face as he stared back at him.

     He was so real, so real in fact that his presence felt whimsical. He thought that his approach to the situation was definitely strange, for his reactions were too pacified to believe, but could admittedly tell that he was somewhat intelligent.

     Intelligence wasn't knowing, but rather the concept of understanding what is both known and unknown.

     The boy who stopped him understood how simple life was, and didn't exaggerate the words that fell softly off his lips...

    He had nothing grand of sorts to say or comment, as if he already had an idea of why he stood at the cliff with a brick tied to his ankle.

     Life was incredibly simple, which is why it was pointless in being carried out, yet worth living vicariously.

     "What is your name?" He asked.

     "Chuuya. What about yours?" The other replied.

      "Dazai," He answered, stalking towards the boy in a labored shuffle, the brick at his feet lugging behind him. "How old are you?"

     "Eleven," Chuuya answered. "You look around my age, too. You must know how dangerous cliffs are, by now."

    "I do. I wouldn't be here with you if I was ignorant to the fact," Dazai answered with a small patronizing smile. "Or are you too innocent to grasp my intentions?"

The wind picked up, and Chuuya could already imagine Dazai flying gracefully with the spine tingling gusts, like an orange leaf falling onto the surface of a lake but sinking without explanation. It was a oddly troubling but peaceful feeling.

     "No, I just don't like seeing people get hurt of their own accord," Chuuya grimaced down at his feet. "It may not seem like it, but the ocean has more life in it than on land. It contains so much life that is yet to be discovered...you would disturb the ecosystem if you were to jump. The ocean is the only mystery that humans can't touch, and I think it should stay that way."

Dazai blinked as they both looked out at the ocean in response. "Hm, I guess you're right. The ocean really is the only pure thing left, and I suppose I would want to eat as much crab as I could before I die."

"Oh, is crab your favorite food? I have some left over from lunch if you'd like to finish the rest," Dazai's head immediately snapped back to the shorter boy as he watched him pull out a bento box wrapped in red cloth from his bag and open it to reveal a small line of crisp crab tempura, which had the boy immediately salivating.

Without a second to waste, Chuuya stumbled back when Dazai snatched the lunch box from his hand and invited himself to the free dinner without even the soft grumble of a thank you, though he didn't mind the way the boy devoured the food he had spent hours trying to cook to an almost perfect delicacy. It was somewhat like an appreciated indecent compliment, though Chuuya didn't think much of it. 

"It's cold, but still tastes of ocean scent," Dazai mumbled in between messy chews, paying no mind to the way Chuuya cringed at the food spilling out of his mouth whenever he spoke. "It's salty, too. Is seafood naturally seasoned from the exposure to sea salt, I wonder?"

"It would be nice if it were. That way I wouldn't have to put in as much effort into cooking and annoy Ane-san with my questions on what seasonings to use." Chuuya took the cloth that Dazai had impolitely tossed onto the grass in a hungry rush and aimlessly ran his fingers over the light creases, noticing the small stains of grease that'd accidentally been left behind in the packaging process.

"Hm, I don't cook, so I wouldn't know about such things. I'm a horrible chef, you see. My hands grow unsteady whenever I touch a knife of any sort, and I'm far too impatient to stand at a stove all day. Instant ramen is the best route to go."

       The young man before him begged to differ, the thought of prepackaged food giving him recollections of distaste from the days when he was nothing but a stray orphan living in heaps of litter with nothing but a lighter and tin can to his name. In those days, he made it out of his way to boil stolen bottles of water in a sorry excuse for a pot over collections of old newspapers set aflame, watching until bubbles rose to the surface so he could pour the burning water into styrofoam cups full of dry noodles and artificial garnishes.

     Needless to say, he grew tired of watching his fellow classmates bring in instant bowls of soup and make line to use the water boiler.

"Doesn't it get boring? Eating the same thing everyday, I mean?" Chuuya questioned as he sat himself down on the grass, watching as Dazai followed suit after he scraped every last crumb of tempura out of the container and tossed it lazily into his lap, carefully stretching out his right leg thanks to the heavy weight that he still refuses to take off. It felt perplexing rather than morbid, in a strange sense.

      "Of course it does," he muttered, running his fingers over the grooves of bandages wrapped tightly around his arms while lightly glazing the spots where hints of red were visible, smiling without meaning. "My life is draped in the uneventful; everyday is boring. I'm forced to repeat the same meaningless routine until I go blue in the face, I find nothing to come as a surprise to me anymore, and I was never taught how to live in the proper way that the rest of the children do...my stomach may as well be an advertisement for instant meals!"

     "Is that so?" Chuuya took the bento box and wrapped it flawlessly back up in the red cloth, astounded by how empty the box was, as to where any outsider could be fooled into thinking that the lunch box was entirely washed and unused. His companion had licked the box clean and Chuuya couldn't help but feel proud over how great his cooking skills amounted to. Perhaps he should experiment with crab dishes more often...

     "I think you would be better off advertising for crab. You left not even a single crumb or shred of food."

    "Are you kidding me? That would be a horrible idea! If I became a spokesperson for crab, my praise would draw in so many customers that we would soon run out of it and I would truly be left to eat cups of ramen for the rest of my life! Chaos would ensue!" Dazai rebuffed passionately with dramatic gestures, the idea of crab scarcity an absolute nightmare of a possibility to him. "The ocean would be rid of the best species ever, and the world would surely end!"

     "The world wouldn't end, dummy. There would still be other seafood we could eat, and most people would be happy with the fact that there aren't crabs pinching at their feet whenever they go to the beach," Chuuya refuted matter of factly. 

   Dazai giggled as the boy beside shrunk into himself and recalled the time when he got chased and pinched by a crab after having attempted to poke it viciously with a stick out of innocent curiosity, romanticizing the idea of a well deserved crab extinction.

    "You're really stupid, Chuuya-kun! Everyone knows that crabs get angry easily, even preschoolers!" Dazai teased with a mocking expression while rolling on the grass from an unsustainable laughter, Chuuya cowering in humiliation and spitting weak curses in attempt to get him to shut up.

     "I was only in kindergarten, okay?" Chuuya defended with a sharp tone, pale skin now flushed in a tomato hue. "Little kids don't know any better, and I was really bored that day, so..."

     Dazai slowly stopped laughing in small chuckles, eventually rolling onto his back where he remained sprawled on the sandy grass, tugging Chuuya down by the sleeve of his sweater to do the same. "You get bored at the beach? I thought people enjoyed the contaminated water with unknown predators?"

     Chuuya simply hummed at the sarcasm and closed his eyes, picturing the hot and crowded summer days of the past when he was constantly invited to the beach by his friends, an act that went on until one day they had finally come to notice how he tended to stay hidden under the shade of the beach umbrella, where he usually flipped through his comic books and worked on his summer packets as they all splashed in the blue waves, seemingly dissatisfied.

      They weren't particularly fond of downers like himself, to say the least.

    "I'm not bored of the beach, I just don't see the fun in it like everyone else does," Chuuya admitted as another breeze shook the blades of long grass around them in a relaxing dance. "The overwhelming crowds, the heat, the littered ocean, the sand attached to the roots of your hair; all of it is just terrible. And why go soak in a sea of dirty water with almost naked strangers when I can just bathe in my own clean bath tub at home? It doesn't make sense at all. Playing games at the festival and arcade is way better!"

     Dazai could feel himself slowly warm up to the boy beside him despite the distaste he had for his very elementary fashion sense and unfortunate short stature. In his life so far, the eleven year old had never met someone so genuinely human, someone who didn't annoyingly cry for him whenever he was caught in the usual act of young suicide, someone who didn't ramble on for hours on end about depression and how to properly cope with it, someone who didn't take his nonsensical and meaningless insults to heart, someone who also understood how displeasing the beach was.

     He'd never met someone who carried arcade tokens with him wherever they went because they were aware of how sudden the gaming rush came about. 

   Now the two adolescents were in an ecstatic conversation about video games.

    "I really like to play fighting and shooting games. They make you rely on your reflexes and timed reactions, and also have cool special moves that take time to learn. Only the best people win at those games!" Chuuya gloats smugly whilst shooting fingers guns and punching the air with Dazai silently shaking his head, disheveling his already messy top of hair. Chuuya scowls when Dazai sucks his teeth and rolls his eyes condescendingly, anticipating a heated childish argument from the way Dazai glowers at him with his single exposed eye.

     "You are way more brainless than I'd thought you to be," Dazai ridicules with an indulging frown that didn't sit well with his small opponent. "Racing games are far superior to that brawn for brains stuff. Racing games teach you tactics and steady focus, slowly showing you how one should get a step ahead of their enemy without them knowing it's coming their way. Now that's what a proper competitive game is!"

    "Pfft, yeah right. Steering wheels are too sensitive in racing games and make it impossible to tolerate. It sucks!"

    Dazai let's out a fake laugh. "Or maybe you're the one who sucks, not the game."

    "Shut up! I could probably beat you at any game if I wanted to!"

     "Ha, whatever you say, short stuff. You probably have all those tokens saved up from the times when you were too scared to play because you didn't want to lose."

    "No I don't!"

   "Really, now? Then why don't we go to the arcade so you can prove to me how wrong I am?"

    Chuuya is about to retort when he stops himself, realizing the plans he had for the rest of his afternoon after the supposed short visit to the cliff he had written in his mental checklist. He was only supposed to stay here for a minute or two, to look out at the view described in the book tucked away safely in his school bag, and make sure to hurry his way to Rimbaud's and get home before the sun set so he wouldn't anger Ane-san.

     Meeting a certain flight risk who stood on his toes at the very edge of a high cliff like a bird ready to take off from a frail branch wasn't necessarily what he expected out of his day, but he couldn't say that it bothered him, either. It wasn't like Chuuya to have purposeful and immersive conversations with his peers at school, all of them being kids who were more interested in talking about card games than discussing poets of the past.

     That may have been the reason why he enjoyed spending time with the book shop keeper Rimbaud and his elegant and proper foster mother Kouyou, both people who appreciated and marveled at his maturity despite his age.

     Unknowingly, both boys admired that maturity that they saw in each other, never mind how childish they were at heart or how they bickered over useless topics.

    "O-Oh, I can't go to the arcade today, actually..." Chuuya said while sitting up and patting his hair free of sand and bits of grass, the sound of disappointment lingering in his soft voice. "I have somewhere to go after this. I wasn't supposed to stay this long..."

     Dazai's expression remained unchanged, a mocking neutral stare that could tear through cement. What a pity it was, that Chuuya would trade anything to see what the boy next to him was thinking. "I see...sorry for keeping you long. I must've bored you-"

     "What are you spouting? You're not boring." Chuuya interrupted with sincere question to his voice. "You may say that your existence is boring, but that doesn't mean that you're boring. I would have left you here if I thought otherwise."

       Once again, Chuuya finds himself unable to read Dazai's blank expression as he blinks up at him, then pursing his lips into a small smile. "Chuuya-kun is devilishly unpredictable. I was sure you disliked me."

     "I could say the same about you," Chuuya breathes as he helps Dazai up to his feet. The brick was still tied to him, but looser than it once was. "Although you have a few loose screws under that mop of hair, you still have some common sense to you."

     Dazai lightly chuckled. "How kind of you, Chibiko. I can also agree that despite your horrendous outfit, you are someone who has more mental sense than most people do." He ignores the painful shove that Chuuya gives, both of them finding themselves laughing from their own childish behavior.

   It was nothing more than two kids enjoying a light youth in a heavy world.

     "By the way, I was wondering how you ended up finding me here in the first place. Were you considering giving the sea a second chance, after all?"

       "I'd never do such a thing," The boy scoffed, raising his face willingly to the afternoon wind as he turned to admire the horizon that Dazai had been watching when they first encountered—the horizon that he could never reach unless he flew. "I came here to watch the sunset."

      Dazai blinked at him curiously. "Is that really all? For a flimsy sunset?" He laughed, dragging the brick with him as he paced disconcertingly. "I was interrupted because of a stupid sunset? How amusing! What is so interesting about the sun? It won't be disappearing anytime soon, so why? We see it everyday-"

      "I read a book that spoke of the sunset as something of a beautiful happiness, a salvation of sorts that tore away the clouds of disgrace. I wanted to see if it was true..."

     Dazai tilted his head up to the sky where an albatross loomed above them, cawing as if it were passing on a message of which was only meant for them.

      The sky was pink and the world stood still on that cliff above the sea, the sun the magic of it all.

  "So? What do you think now that you've seen it? Was it worth the aimless time?"

     The sound of crashing waves and the grass rustling from the ocean gusts whispered a lovely song into Chuuya's ears, and the evening chill no longer bothered him as a smile crept onto his lips.

     "Yes, it was." He finally answered contently and warm, cheeks pink like the backdrop painted behind him. "I saw you stand on thin air, an idiotic albatross burdened to fall with a colorless sky. It was indeed a moment words couldn't describe. But now, I can see more color and find myself lighter than ever before..."

       Dazai clings onto every word, the feeling of certain death fleeting with the sun sinking deeper into a vast pool of blue. Without a doubt, it unmistakably was...

       "The sunset is perhaps the most beautiful thing on this planet." Chuuya finishes, that soft and satisfied smile never leaving the blissful expression that Dazai could stare at for multiple infinities. 

     "But if you choose to fly, you may never see it (him) again and only ever see black. That would suck, wouldn't it? So why don't you untie the brick keeping you restricted in that one boring place, and in turn learn how to cook the best crab with me?"

    Dazai's hands trembled. "The next sunset?"

    Chuuya nodded as he swung his bag over his shoulder, heading off to his next destination.

      "Of course."

                      _______________

                          •11 years later•

 

      Chuuya lets out a tired yawn, finding it a miracle that he had even managed to go through the entire day without collapsing or dozing off at a moment's notice. He could say the same for his other fellow students, who sported the same frizzy hair and dark eye bags that he wore, some running solely on coffee or energy drinks. Ane-san had warned him that cramming before a semester exam would not be wise or of his best interest, assuring him that his weeks of nonstop studying would carry him just fine through the three hours.

     But this was college, not high school, and the habits he carried were far from meeting higher education expectations. Hell, he could no longer remember how many books and hours of tutoring Rimbaud had given him to prepare for his college entrance exams, but whatever the amount was most likely didn't add up to all the work Chuuya does now.

    Yes, the constant studying and assignments did rob him of his personal life and time spent doing hobbies, but he would be damned if anything stopped him from graduating on time and receiving that bachelors degree in literature that he'd poured blood, sweat, and scholarships into.

    But now, it was finally all over, and he could finally take that fresh breath of air that he'd been craving ever since the date of the exam was released. That is until the next assignment is announced, of course.

     But in this small breath of freedom, Chuuya could at last busy himself with visiting the cliff that overlooked the sea, where the warm sunset ridded him of the pressures of a simple existence and let him unveil his pains so he could sit as if he were on top of the world.

     The place where clouds of burden ceased to exist and where he once stopped a boy from committing suicide, a story that he kept to himself even till this day. It's not like anyone would believe such a horrific fairytale, after all. Besides-

        He never saw the strange boy after that day, and for a good while wondered out of fear if he had jumped off the cliff as soon as he had left him to go visit Rimbaud. He luckily never saw a corpse turn up and didn't his name on missing persons lists or on any news articles addressing recent suicides.

       He had simply disappeared.

       Chuuya never did fulfill their insignificant promise over crab.

       That was, until he finally reached the top of the cliff and came across a young man around his age, with familiar brown messy hair and wrists decorated in lines of gauze.

       The man sat a good distance away from the edge, reading what seemed to be the same poetry book that Chuuya was gifted from Ane-san all those years ago.

      "Hey," Chuuya croaked, slowly stepping towards the man like a newborn fawn. "That book——"

     The man turned his head to meet Chuuya's eyes, who stared back at him with the same paralyzed and nostalgic expression that reeked of overwhelming emotion. Two children once sat where they stood, and now a reunion long in the making was unfurling before their eyes.

         "Ch-Chuu...ya...?" Dazai stammered, dropping the book while rising to his feet, awestruck.

       The two gawked at each other in a thundering silence, the sun once again there to bid farewell to the passing day as they began a new one.

      They stood on the same grass that they had laid on when they were young, when they could've been ignorant to everything but chose to embrace it together.

       It was odd, because in that moment it felt as if not a day had passed since that fateful meeting. 

      It was a bittersweet happiness.

     "Da...zai..." Chuuya managed to muster, as if  to test out if it were okay to say that name once more. "You look...older. And you're...taller."

    "Chuuya," Dazai said in a serious tone while flicking his eyes over the other man's stature and face. "Is it really you...? Because I can't say the same about you."

    He immediately gets kicked, of course.

    "Asshole, where the hell have you been all this time?! I was worried sick over you!" Chuuya shouts, shaking Dazai about from the collar of his button up shirt. "How could you just abandon me like that?! I searched everywhere for you, damn it!"

    "I know, I know, I'm sorry!" Dazai nervously laughs while raising his hands up in surrender. "I wanted to see you, too! But would you believe me if I told that I forgot what path I took to get here?"

    "WHO THE FUCK FORGETS IMPORTANT SHIT LIKE THAT?" 

     "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, truly from the bottom of my heart. I was only a kid, back then! See, and now I come here almost every week!"

     Chuuya widens his eyes, a sudden wash of resentment striking his chest. "Wait...you actually always came?"

      "Of course I did. Why wouldn't I? As soon as I discovered the path, again, I promised to visit as many times as I could, all the way from my 3rd year in high school till now." Dazai said while crossing his arms. "You say you searched for me when I was always here, yet I was dismayed to find you never looking out at the sunset. I wanted to see you, again. Weren't you the one missing?"

     The twenty two year old could feel his heart break from guilt and sink down into his stomach from shame and regret. All this time, he was here, and Chuuya never knew.

    "...I-I stopped coming here for awhile to study for exams. So I never thought..."

      Dazai eyes him with a hurt but understanding look, his smug smile teasing Chuuya unknowingly. "You're fine. I wouldn't want my long last friend flunking out of school, now would I? Besides, I already had a strong feeling that you must've not visited due to reasonable circumstances. You were the one who made such an important deal, after all."

     Chuuya sighs and eventually let's him go, determined to not ruin the moment more than it already has. The wind blows just like it did before, and Chuuya would have it no other way, here with him.

     "It really has been 11 years," he mutters as he looks out at the same view with Dazai at his side. "We're cranky old men, now."

      Dazai let's out a light chuckle in agreement, murmuring about how he grew up to be mature and attractive compared to Chuuya's baby face, derailing the conversation for a bit when they both engage in a light wrestling match, earning concerned stares from the birds above.

   They eventually stop in sweat and labored pants when Chuuya looks behind Dazai to see the poetry book that he had thrown on the grass. "...and you even made it out of your way to buy the book."

     "I was curious of what your tastes were, so I did some research and finally found the book you were talking about," Dazai hummed. "You were pretty poetic for an eleven year old kid, weren't you? I wondered how good it must've been if it inspired you to come out here. Before I was too ignorant, but now I can somewhat understand why. It's what brought us together, after all."

    Chuuya could feel the thrum of his pulse double, and lowered his eyes in a subconscious reaction to embarrassment. "I suppose, so...it's a wonderful book." He agrees hesitantly, a light blush hidden by the shadows cast by his wavy bangs.

    "It really is."

     They both admired the sunset together, standing quietly but comfortably in each other's company. 

     The day was indeed ending, and tomorrow would arrive with the sun as it always did...

      "You didn't try to fly again, did you? I told you before, humans can't fly."

      Dazai let out a heavy sigh, shifting his weight onto his right leg where the brick had once dragged behind him. "I thought about it, sometimes," he breathed, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his sweater. "But I never tried, because then I would never be able to eat homemade crab with you."

       Chuuya couldn't help but feel a wave of relief and sweetness wash over him, the fact being that after all these years, he had continued to keep his promise and lived just for him, selfish it may be.

     Well, even if he lived for the crab instead of for his sake, it mattered not to him. The senior college student was just happy that he could stand side by side with him again, with the boy he cared for with all his being.

      "Chuuya, isn't it time that you kept up your side of the bargain? I waited all this time for you, after all."

     Chuuya scoffed, landing a light punch on the other's chest. "Idiot, I'd never forget about such a promise. Don't think so lightly of me, bastard."

    "Of course I wouldn't. I simply wonder if Chuuya is as great as a cook as he said he was. Little kids can be brats, after all."

   "Ha, it'll be the best crab you've ever had! I'm the one cooking, after all! It's a dish 11 years in the making."

"Will it be better than instant ramen? I would hate if I grew bored of crab, too."

Chuuya grimaced. "I thought you would have grown tired of ramen by now. You really can't cook, can you?"

"Not at all! But that's why you're here, right? The sun is finally setting, again." Dazai smiled warmly down at him, strands of brown hair waving in the small breeze as Chuuya glared at up at him hesitantly with reservation. It was no secret that despite his immaturity, Dazai had clearly grown up to be handsome, and that fact couldn't help but make Chuuya feel insecure.

"Whatever," He huffs, pulling Dazai down to violently ruffle that annoyingly fluffy and soft hair of his, earning a whine out of his victim. "We should start heading to the grocery store before it gets late. And maybe afterwards we can stop by the arcade and finally settle once and for all who the better gamer is~"

"Ahaha, I still see you're saving up from precedented losses. You really hate to lose, don't you, Shorty?" Dazai teased.

"Oh, shut up. You still willingly wear bandages, for god's sake! People never change, do they?"

"One thing has changed, though?"

Chuuya raised a doubting brow. "Hm, and what would that be? Has your ego perhaps gotten bigger?"

All Dazai did was chuckle as the scent of the sea wafted through the air, the sight of a pink sky a reminder of the insignificant days of childhood that they had abandoned long ago on that very cliff, all a distant memory so ancient but rang vividly clear with the sound of the same waves crashing against rocks.

"I chose to stay here and live." Dazai calmly answered, his expression one that Chuuya could finally understand without fault:

An expression of genuine and true happiness.

From the bottom of his heart, Chuuya could tell that Dazai was willing to live, and that reality made him as beautiful as the golden horizon...

So beautiful that he could have been plucked out of a $10 million painting.

"Dazai, I think I really like you." Chuuya said shamelessly. "From the moment I called out to you, I think I liked you."

The wind blew for a final time, over that hidden cliff where a young boy once watched another stand on thin air as he gazed upon the horizon of another ending day, fearlessly daring to be the first human to fly.

11 years ago, did two kids find meaning in a simple yet wondrous existence.

Chuuya bursts into a fit of laughter when Dazai clumsily sweeps him up in his arms and drags him down along with him when he accidentally loses his footing, the two tumbling onto the grass haphazardly in loud giggles with Dazai laying sloppy kisses all over the red head's face.

"I think I really like you, too."

 

          

 

         "Clouds came floating onto my life, no longer to rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky."

              -Rabindranath Tagore, "Stray Birds"

**Author's Note:**

> In the past, the albatross has been described as “the most legendary of all birds” with many metaphors and connotations surrounding its’ species. This includes a captive albatross representing a poète maudit (a poet whom lived against society) and the saying that someone wore an albatross around their neck when bearing burdens or facing obstacles.
> 
> On the other hand, Japanese mythology addressed the albatross as “Idiot bird” for its’ dense nature that made it susceptible to easy hunting.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


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